Meet Dakota.

Hey, I'm Dakota. It's great to meet you.

I wasn't supposed to end up in communications.

I grew up in a small town. Think "drive your tractor to school day" small. I went to school to be a teacher. Got the license, did the student teaching, took one interview and walked out knowing it wasn't the path for me. What I loved about teaching wasn't the classroom (or the politics/parents/shitty salaries), it was the opportunity to make an impact. I know, so cliché, but I mean it. So I went to the YMCA of Silicon Valley instead, where I ran an $11M facility from 4am to 10pm, managed 100+ staff, and helped teenagers learn how government works through Youth in Government and Model UN — turns out there wasn't a ton of money there, either. It also turns out that was communications school, I just didn't know it yet.

From there: edtech account management (hated it, but only because it was so monotonous), and then seven years at Chime finding the next thing that needed building. Employer brand. Corporate editorial. Executive communications. IPO prep. I came in at the ground floor and left having built a function. Nobody handed me the scope; in fact, I've written my own job description more times than I can count. I just kept finding the work that wasn't done yet.

After a three-month sabbatical to remember what feeling like a human being was again, I landed at Hiive, building their communications function from the ground up. That chapter was short. Short chapters happen in startup work. This one confirmed something I already knew: the work I'm built for is the build itself. So here I am.

I'm ADHD, deeply curious, high EQ (thanks, childhood trauma), and allergic to doing things the way they've always been done. I think in systems and stories simultaneously. I'm better at starting things than maintaining them — the early build, the messy middle, the moment when nothing exists yet. That's where I do my best work.

I'm also building a clean living brand as a passion project, once tried to turn a dilapidated mansion into a B&B and boutique wedding venue, and will absolutely send you a rabbit hole about something completely unrelated to communications at 1am.

Based in Chicago with my partner Chase, our dog Luca, and our cat Auggie. The 4th pic is more of an iykyk moment.

Genuinely glad you're here.

— Dakota William Betts

If you think there's a fit, let's find out → dakota@dakotawilliam.com